Some Argentines turning to unusual pets in pandemic
Millions of people have found solace during the pandemic in cuddling a dog or cat. For a few, comfort comes in other forms — those of a horse or a pig, perhaps a possum-like sugar glider or even a tarantula.
As the new coronavirus began to circulate last year, Luciana Benetti found her plans for a big traditional 15th birthday party scrapped.
In its place, her parents gave her a pig.
Chanchi turned out to be a loyal and loving companion — racing to her side when she fainted.
“One day my legs gave way and he came running. He grabbed my hair and raised my head,” she said. She had been taking online classes at home, unable to see friends or schoolmates.
Without Chanchi, “I wouldn’t be me,” said Benetti, who often sleeps alongside the 45-pound Juliana pig.
Even less common is the case of Lorena Alvarez,
whose Buenos Aires apartment is also home to 28 pocket-sized marsupials commonly known as sugar gliders.
Alvarez, who teaches statistics at a university — online these days — lives otherwise alone, but said the pets have helped her feel like she has company — sometimes popping up atop her head during Zoom calls.
“I get up and I live for them. They are my engine of struggle and of life,” she said of the animals that scamper over her looking to be petted, or leap and glide down to the floor.
The 28 are the result of two she adopted several years ago after getting a permit for the exotic animals.
That sort of multiplication is just one reason that many animal rights groups oppose keeping gliders as pets, and why some dealers sell only neutered males.
Argentine veterinarian Adrian Petta, who specializes in unconventional pets, said he’s seen hundreds of animals over the past 18 months of the pandemic — pigs, rabbits, birds, rodents, geckos and the like.
“Many people have felt alone and have sought pets, or they are tired of the television and computers and need more affective relationships,” he said. That’s the case for Osvaldo Negri, a 50-year-old nurse. Negri said he began raising spiders to overcome arachnophobia, and now has 60. For Solana Pesca, companionship comes with the bright-eyed rats Regue and Brama, who live in her small apartment in Buenos Aires.
“They understand what you feel, they seek you out,” said Solis, who works at an animal laboratory.
South of Buenos Aires, in the town of Tandil, 77-yearold Alberto Castro had spent much of his time at the Hogar San Jose, a home for the elderly, sitting in a chair.
That changed in March last year, just as the pandemic was dawning, when the home’s operator, Alejandro Moreno Hueyo, brought in a horse named Coco.
Castro took to caring for the horse, which arrived in bad shape.
“It changed my life,” he said.